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Chapter Six
Bo sat next to Miss Maggie with two fresh, steaming cups of coffee. She stirred the sugar into hers and began...
"Years ago, not too many years after the turn of the century it was, there was a young couple engaged to be married. They were very young and very much in love.The young man was eighteen, but the young lady was only fifteen, so her Daddy told her she had to wait a year to get married.
While they waited anxiously for that year to end so that they could be married, the girl's uncle came to live with them...it was her mother's brother. He was an evil man and was running from the law, but her Mama didn't know it.
One day when the young girl went out to tend to the livestock, her uncle followed her to the barn. He cornered her and forced himself on her threatening to slit her throat if she called out. He raped her, then told her he would kill her beau if she told anyone. She was scared...so scared of him."
Maggie sipped her coffee then continued.
"The uncle stayed for a couple of months and repeated this every time he found the young girl alone always holding a knife to her and always threatening to hurt the man she loved. She was so frightened that she never told anyone.
A couple of months later, the law came knocking on the door of the girl's house and the uncle was arrested...the law said the charges were robbery and killing a man in another state...with a knife.
Finally, the girl thought her nightmare was over. But it wasn't. She discovered she was pregnant...carrying a child conceived by this ugly deed. She was devastated, of course, and worried. What would her fiance think of her? What would her parents say? What would they do? This would shame the whole family. Because of her, the whole family would be uprooted and moved to hide their disgrace. Things were so much different back then...not like it is today.
She decided to tell her love first. Of course he was angry and he was grieved. Grieved because of what she had gone through...grieved because of their current situation...and grieved because that evil man had stolen a precious gift from them. But he loved her...loved her with his whole heart. And after he let loose of his anger, he pulled her into his arms and told her he still wanted to marry her.
They went to her parents and told them she was pregnant...and he claimed the baby was his. The girl's Pa knocked him around a bit and then lit into his daughter about how she had disgraced the family. But, in the end, her Mama and Daddy gave them a cart and packed it with things to set up a household. They left in the dark of night, traveled three days, and were married by the first preacher they found.
Seven months later, their baby girl was born. They named her Margaret Irene...but her Daddy called her 'Maggie."
Bo gave her a puzzled look.
“That’s right. I’m that baby girl. Conceived by an evil deed, but loved even before I was born by that man I call ‘Daddy’. He wasn’t my biological father...no.” She shook her head. “But, he was my daddy. He loved me. Even when he and Mama had children of their own, I wasn’t treated any differently. I was his because he chose to love me. And I was born because my Mama chose to love him. She did what her uncle forced her to do because she loved my Daddy and was worried for his life... And, if you think about it...the circumstances were different but... isn’t that just what Miss Nora did for you? Went with this other man to ultimately save your life?”
“I know you’ve been hurt. My Daddy was hurt too. He could have cast everything aside and become bitter. But he loved my Mama with his whole heart...like you love Miss Nora...and he made a choice to love me. He never regretted those choices, and my Daddy lived and died a happy man.”
“I want the same for you, Bo, but...you have to make your own decisions. Only you know what you can live with...or live without as the case may be. All I’m saying is... give it some serious thought, and don’t wait until it’s too late. Remember...'if only’ can be some of the saddest words ever spoken. Ahh, but I’ve said that to you before, haven’t I?”
“Many times,” Bo answered.
“Well, I only say these things because I love you...like you were my own. I love you…”
“...to the moon and back,” he finished. “I remember, Maggie.”
“And you remember, too, that I’ll be praying for you. God’ll give you the answers,” she nodded.
She patted him on the back. “Now...get out to that lake and catch us some fish. I’m ready for a fish fry.”
* * * * * * *
The quiet afternoon of fishing and a sleepless night gave Bo the time he needed to think. He kept hearing Maggie’s words as she talked about her Daddy.
...He lived and died a happy man because he chose to love...
Bo had reached a decision. Tomorrow he would leave the ranch.
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